Juliette Orton

Earlier this week I really felt like I had stepped back in time in more ways than one as I went to look at Debbie Lyddon's wonderful exhibition at Haslemere Museum. I grew up in Haslemere and have many fond memories of visits to the Museum throughout my childhood - an elephant foot bin, a Mummy wrapped in bandages with a scary toe exposed, a stuffed bear (full size, standing) and trays and trays of beautiful butterflies to name but a few of my lasting memories. My godmother also worked at the museum and my mother just next door as a reporter on the Haslemere Herald. Professor David Bellamy also loved this museum which was his favourite and he was a frequent visitor as a child. So I was delighted to discover that 'The Archive Project' exhibition was to be held at the Museum as it gave me an opportunity to revisit it with fond memories. I was so excited when I walked into the reception that I positively gushed about all of my memories and connections to the poor receptio...

I spent some time at my Mum's in Sussex over Easter helping her sort through bits and pieces from our family history. She is thinking of moving house this year which means going through 25+ years of 'stuff'! We came across some real treasures such as the family bible from the 1800s which I had never seen before. There was a page for births, deaths and marriages with numerous entries in beautiful handwriting and a lot of details about my ancestors which were fascinating. It turns out that I am a descendant of the Clark family who produced Clark & Co's sewing threads in the 1800s and James Clark who invented the technique used to produce a spooled cotton thread (as opposed to skeins) which we know today as the cotton reel.    Mum also showed me this amazing picture of what looks like a painting of Charles I but is in fact an embroidery that was produced by a family member called Wright Battye (!) to demonstrate the superior quality of Clark & ...